Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS) Trading Down 7% Following Insider Selling

Key Points

• Shares fell 7% after director Meera Rao sold 2,972 shares at an average price of $150.30 (≈$446,692), trimming her position by 12.95%; intraday volume was ~699,880, down about 70% from the average.
• Analysts are mixed: MarketBeat shows a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” but a consensus price target of $105.71, well below the recent trading level near $147.
• Rambus reported quarterly EPS of $0.68 (in line) and revenue of $190.24M (slightly above estimates), with a strong net margin (~32.6%) and market cap of about $15.4B, while the stock trades well above its 50- and 200-day moving averages (~$101).

Rambus, Inc. (NASDAQ:RMBS - Get Free Report) shares fell 7% during trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $144.70 and last traded at $147.3780. 699,880 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 2,340,012 shares. The stock had previously closed at $158.40.

Specifically, Director Meera Rao sold 2,972 shares of Rambus stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.30, for a total value of $446,691.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,974 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,002,092.20. The trade was a 12.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on RMBS. Weiss Ratings cut Rambus from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Evercore dropped their target price on Rambus from $126.00 to $119.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Rambus in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Susquehanna dropped their target price on Rambus from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Rambus to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Rambus presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $105.71.

Rambus Trading Down 9.9%

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $101.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.67 and a beta of 1.63.

Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 2nd. The semiconductor company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68. The firm had revenue of $190.24 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $188.21 million. Rambus had a return on equity of 17.69% and a net margin of 32.57%. As a group, research analysts expect that Rambus, Inc. will post 2.49 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Rambus during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,094,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Rambus by 101.7% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 139,430 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $14,669,000 after buying an additional 70,314 shares in the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft acquired a new position in Rambus during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,149,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its position in Rambus by 57.0% during the 3rd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 52,435 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $5,464,000 after buying an additional 19,046 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its position in Rambus by 2,372.0% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 122,636 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $11,269,000 after buying an additional 117,675 shares in the last quarter. 88.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Rambus Company Profile

Rambus Inc is a technology licensing company specializing in semiconductor and system-level interface solutions. Founded in 1990 by Stanford University researchers Mike Farmwald and Mark Horowitz, Rambus established its headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. The company initially gained prominence by developing high-speed DRAM interface technology and securing a broad patent portfolio covering memory architecture, data signaling and power management innovations.

Today, Rambus licenses its proprietary intellectual property (IP) to semiconductor companies, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and system integrators worldwide.

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